Kongo Nail Fetishes from the Chiloango River Area
By Ezio Bassani
Originally published in African Arts - April 1977, Volume X, Number 3
In the nineteenth century, ethnologists who collected and catalogued objects of art from Africa were not concerned with
discovering the names of the artists or even their ethnic identities; usually, broad indications of geographic origins, such as
"the Lower Congo," "the region of the White Nile," or the "River Uelle" were deemed sufficient identification. In addition,
because these objects were regarded merely as documents of a mode of life inferior to that of Western societies, no effort
was made to categorize them stylistically. Although during the first ten years of this century, French and German artists
revealed the artistic independence and importance of African sculpture, scholars persisted in considering the works of
African carvers as popular,
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